Cat and Mouse *** (1958, Lee Patterson, Ann Sears, Victor Maddern) – Classic Movie Review 13,115

Paul Rotha’s suspenseful 1958  crime drama film Cat and Mouse stars Lee Patterson as an American army deserter who holds a young British woman (Ann Sears) hostage, believing she knows the location of a fortune in diamonds.

Writer/ producer/ director Paul Rotha’s 1958  crime drama film Cat and Mouse is based on the novel by John Creasey (writing as Michael Halliday) and stars Canadian actor Lee Patterson and Ann Sears.

Cat and Mouse is a fascinating, atmospheric, suspenseful British B-feature thriller about an American GI army deserter called Rod Fenner (Lee Patterson), who frames a young British woman named Ann Coltby (Ann Sears) after he kills a blackmailer and holds her captive (bound and gagged and tied to a rocking chair) while looking for the fortune in diamonds loot stolen by her father, believing she knows its location.

This unusual film is well written, produced and directed by famed and well-respected documentarist film-director Rotha, author of a classic film book The Film Till Now, who is thoroughly professional as a fiction feature director and turns in a neatly crafted film, as you would expect, even if he seems to be working on somebody else’s territory. Victor Maddern has the joyless task of playing the obligatory stock character CID man Superintendent Harding.

The cast are Lee Patterson as Rod Fenner, Ann Sears as Ann Coltby, Victor Maddern as Superintendent Harding, Hilton Edwards as Mr Scruby, Diana Fawcett as Mrs Pomeroy, Roddy McMillan as Mr Pomeroy, Stuart Saunders as Plainclothes Sergeant George Rose as second-hand clothes dealer, Llewellyn Rees as bank manager, and Robert Mackenzie as American army officer.

It is also known as Cat & Mouse, The Desperate Men (US title), or The Desperate Ones.

It is produced at Halliford Studios, Manygate Lane, Shepperton, Surrey, England. It was shot in November 1957.

Cat and Mouse is directed by Paul Rotha, runs 79 minutes, is made by Anvil Films, is released by Eros Films (UK), is written by Paul Rotha and Irma Bernay (additional dialogue), based on the novel by John Creasey (writing as Michael Halliday), is shot in black and white by Wolfgang Suschitzky, is produced by Ralph May (executive producer) and Paul Rotha, and is designed by Tony Inglis (art direction).

Release date August 1958 (UK). It was passed by the BBFC at 85 minutes as Cat and Mouse on 18 February 1958 and again on 11 December 1958 as The Desperate Ones. In the UK it was cut to 79 minutes and released in February 1960 as Cat and Mouse as the support film to Butterfield 8 on the ABC circuit.

It is released on DVD by Renown Pictures in 2012.

Rotha produced and directed dozens of documentaries including Contact (1933), Air Outpost (1937) The Face of Britain (1935), World of Plenty (1943), Land of Promise (1947), A City Speaks (1947), The World Is Rich (1947) and Cradle of Genius (1961), both Oscar nominated, and feature films including the BAFTA-nominated No Resting Place.

Austrian-born British documentary photographer Wolfgang Suschitzky, previously shot Paul Rotha’s World of Plenty (1943) and No Resting Place (1951). He is best known for Mike Hodges’ 1971 film Get Carter. He died on 7 October 2016 at the age of 104 in London.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,115

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